Page 43 of Submit

Thankfully, he seems to buy it.

“Oh, okay. It didn’t crap anywhere, did it?”

I force a light laugh. “No. All good.” He’s loosening his tie as he moves toward the stairs. When he comes back down a few minutes later, he’s in blue athletic shorts and a plain white t-shirt. I briefly wonder if he’s sick. He doesn’t ever wear lounge clothes. I’d completely forgotten he even owned these.

He must be able to read the puzzled expression on my face because he chuckles. “I know it’s not my usual, but I’m tired of khaki.” He rubs his eyes and I see the strain and fatigue in his features. My heart softens just a little. Is it possible that Casper and Bea are wrong? “Do you want to watch a movie tonight?” he asks.

We haven’t watched a movie since we got here. In fact, we haven’t watched a movie together inmonths.

“Will, do you feel okay? Lounge clothesandtwo hours of completely unproductive time?” I tease, trying to act normal.

“It won’t be unproductive. I’ll be with you.”

How is it possible that this man has ordered the deaths of others? How is it possible that he’s worth billions and has kept it from me? My skin is crawling at the thought of being wrong and hurting him when I leave tomorrow.

Away from Casper’s heated gaze, it’s not any easier to think clearly. In fact, facing Will now makes me feel like a ship tossed about with no anchor. Cas is my port in the storm.

“That sounds great, Will.”

He helps me set the table. As he leans around me to place the roasting pan in the sink, it occurs to me how big he is compared to me. His frame may be lean but Will is almost an entire foot taller than me. If things were to get physical, I’m not sure I’d stand a chance. I can’t outrun him and I certainly wouldn’t be able to get out from underneath him if he had me pinned.

During dinner, I barely eat anything. I spend most of the meal moving food around on my plate. Will doesn’t appear bothered by it, but I mention an upset stomach anyway. He asks about my meeting with Beatrice. I can tell he’s fishing for details on whether or not we talked about the wind farm but I tell him that that’shisproject, and I need to develop rapport for myself before I can push his agenda. I don’t want to argue with him, but it seems more in the vein of our recent interactions than being overly affectionate.

“That’s fair,” he says, completely catching me off guard. “I’m glad your project is off to a good start. I’m happy to see you settling in and getting involved.” If I’m not mistaken, his voice changes as he says the last part. It’s like his mask slipped just enough for me to detect a small threat in the way he saidgetting involved.

God, this day has really taken its toll.

“I’ll clean up.” I smile and start to stand and clear dishes. “Why don’t you go get the movie set up? I’m still not sure how that t.v. works.”

Instead of taking my suggestion, Will comes to the sink and wraps his arms around me. Without meaning to, I tense noticeably under his touch. I realize with shocking clarity that it’s not just because I’m afraid of him. It’s because these arms belong to the wrong man.

I don’t like it when he touches you.

“Lib, what’s wrong?” Will asks as he leans down and places his cheek against mine, his foreign embrace causing my throat to burn and my skin to crawl.

“Nothing really. Just my stomach is still bothering me a little and my mind is still processing the business meeting.” I try to placate him with praise. “I can finally see why the windfarm has you so focused. I forgot how exciting it is to have such a big goal.”

It doesn’t deter him in the slightest. His greedy hands start roaming over my body. “Let’s see if I can distract you from your distraction, shall we?”

Um, no. Definitely not.

I try to slide out of his embrace. “Will, I’m really not feeling well. Perhaps we could try tomorrow?”

His next words chill my blood. “But you won’t be here tomorrow, will you?”

My head whips up, my eyes searching for his. “What?”

“Tomorrow’s Friday. You have class tomorrow until five, right?”

I exhale my relief. “Yeah, but I’ll be back in time to get dinner ready, like always.”

“I have another meeting tomorrow at six. I may not get back until late.” His fingers are pushing the waistband of my shorts down and he’s really starting to piss me off.

I still his hands. “Will, I said not tonight.”

He pushes away from me, clearly angry. “I don’t get you! You’re on my case constantly to spend time with you and then when I do, you tell me no.”

I soften my tone and reach for him even though it makes me cringe to do so, trying to calm him down. “Spending time with me doesn’t necessarily mean sex, Will. We have issues that can’t be solved just by sleeping together.”

---